An Irish doctor in love and at sea

Before Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly became the village doctor of Ballybucklebo, Ireland, he was a young surgeon-lieutenant in the British Navy aboard the HMS -Warspite, honing his medical skills at the peak of World War II. In this latest addition to Taylor's hugely popular "Irish Country" series (An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War), Dr. O'Reilly and his wife Kitty are enjoying the comfortable life of their quaint Irish village when an event commemorating the war causes O'Reilly to revisit old friends and his days as a young surgeon in wartime. Seamlessly shifting between the two eventful eras of his life, he recalls the excitement of learning his skills, pursuing his first love, Deirdre, and forging ahead during a time of terrifying uncertainty, while facing the present challenges of learning new skills, training novice doctors, and assisting comrades in times of need. Taylor is a master storyteller who meshes past and present with meticulous detail and sumptuous atmosphere. -VERDICT This wonderfully fresh story in a great series is full of colorful characters, fascinating history, and charming Irish settings. Fans will be delighted to learn more of O'Reilly's wartime years and catch up with Fingal and Kitty. New readers can step right into their lives and be swept away by remembrances of experiences aboard the HMS Warspite and the love story of Fingal and Deirdre.-Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Taylor (An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War, 2014, etc.) revisits his beloved Irish medico, Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, as he faces new challenges in his practice and reconciles with World War II demons. The chapters alternate between the mid-1960s in Balleybucklebo and the early 1940s, when O'Reilly left the HMS Warspite for anesthesiology training at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Portsmouth. Living ashore provides O'Reilly an opportunity to marry his fiancee, Deirdre. Taylor is superb on how characters live, work, and love each other, and O'Reilly's deep feeling for Deirdre anchors the tale. Humor and pathos reign as the scene shifts to 1964. At a medical school class reunion, O'Reilly notices former classmate Ronald Fitzgerald displaying signs of illness, but Fitzgerald angrily rejects his gentle observation. Fitzgerald's a prim, closed-off person, but once his symptoms become critical, he calls O'Reilly, and a friendship blooms. As Balleybucklebo denizens enter, O'Reilly's associate Barry descends into a funk since his fiancee, Sue, has met a charming French fellow while traveling. The Marquis of Balleybucklebo gets help from O'Reilly's brother Lars in managing estate inheritance taxes. There's plenty of ribald humor"If your man Edgar Redmond there was at a wake, he'd not be satisfied unless he was the feckin' corpse." The war years show young O'Reilly despairing over the carnage"the butcher's bill"yet heroic in his duties, and in the happier 1960s segments, a thread about positive/negative blood types gets technical, but following along with O'Reilly on house calls through the green fields of Northern Ireland is constant good fun, especially when the local scallawag decides his ten mutt puppies are exotic Woolamarroo quokka herding dogs. Gentle humor, deeply emotional stories drawn from everyday lifeTaylor's books are what Garrison Keillor might have produced if he'd been born in Country Antrim. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.